Many existing photoautotrophic organisms (i.e., plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria) are poorly suited for industrial bioprocessing and have therefore not demonstrated commercial viability. Such organisms typically have slow doubling times (3-72 hrs) compared to industrialized heterotrophic organisms such as Escherichia coli (20 minutes), reflective of low total productivities. While a desire for the efficient biosynthetic production of fuels has led to the development of photosynthetic microorganisms which produce alkyl esters of fatty acids, a need still exists for methods of producing hydrocarbons, e.g., alkanes, using photosynthetic organisms.